Gold lame Elvis Christmas

Elvis likes a hot fire

Well, good evening. Thanks for your comments about my shirt fix-ups. I did it because I wanted to wear a shirt I made, and it felt like I didn't really have any long sleeved shirts that I made that I wanted to wear. I wore the pink one and the green one to work this week, yeah!

Here's some more Christmas craft, not all done by me!

Here's an flower arrangement I did in 2002. It was the first item I listed on ebay and obviously, it didn't sell!

I was actually happy that it didn't sell, because I liked it so much.
I made the nut wreath in 2001.

Here's a Suzy's Zoo Ollie the Otter 18 count cross stitch I did I think when I was in college. I prefer 14 count but this was just too cute.


These next two were by my friend Betsy. This one has some silver metallic thread, which I always thought was neat. She date-stitched this one--1999! (Date-stitch is like time-stamp. I just made that up.)


This one is stitched onto plastic canvas. She didn't date-stitch this one, but around the same time.


Ok, so seriously, tomorrow I will work on the Santa purse. It's all cut out and ironed so I just need to get my act together.

And check back mid-week for some Grandmom craft. I located two pieces!

Good night!

Bake It Til You Make It

Wow, it's December 1! Holiday baking commenced last night! I still had some labels leftover from last year. Woot! I listen to Rod Stewart while baking. I particularly love "Young Hearts" with the line "Life is so brief, and time is a thief when you're undecided." Rod, you are a philosopher.

The joann's fabric that is the same SKU number as the fabric I bought last December arrived in the mail yesterday. However, it's NOT the same color as my disaster bow shirt. They are two different shades of gray:


So it looks like I will be using a klugey solution. Stay tuned!

When you wear something you didn't make, and someone says, "you couldn't have made that", is that a complement or an insult? Like, are they saying, wow, that looks really professional, did you make it? Or, wow, that looks really professional, guess you didn't make this one.

Ok, I think I made this in high school. It's one of those craft panels where you cut everything out and sew it up. I still like it, even though I can see I didn't sew it with the right seam allowance and can see hints of white fabric here and there!



Here is a wide variety of my favorite Christmas items. I love the Kissing Santa collection, and the Del Monte vegetable ornaments. LOVE THEM.



I got this for a quarter at a yard sale when I was in high school or college. Still love this too:


Good night!

A "fix it up" kind of Sunday

Ok, Gwen, it cracked me up that you were the one to guess what I'm going to make out of this:

I'm going to make a version of your Santa bag! It definitely won't be as nice or "high tech" (no zipper, no feet, no candy cane striped handle, no key ring, no monogram, no quilting). I'm hoping to make it this week. :)

I decided that today I would fix up some shirts!

Shirt 1: the Mondo shirt

Mondo shirt Before:


Mondo shirt After:


Ok, I wore this shirt twice. I didn't like how the vertical stripe eventually would get scrunched up around my elbow. Yesterday I spent way too much time adding additional horizontal stripes to make this longer, then hating it, then today I chopped the sleeves down to short sleeves. I also removed the neck stitching and then twin needle stitched it. And I tried to make it more fitted in the bodice.

Shirt 2: NewLook 6731

Before:


After:

This was the first shirt I made this year (wow my hair has grown a lot in 11 months!), and I didn't wear it a whole lot, mostly because it felt too big and too long, and it had zig zagged instead of twin needle stitched hems.

I cut about an inch and a half off the shirt (including the hem). I then hemmed it an inch with a twin needle, and also twin needle hemmed the sleeves. I shaped it a bit in the bodice and cut out the excess. I really love it now, and think it looks better in real life than in the pix.

Shirt 3: The screaming pink Jalie 2921 tie shirt:
Before:

After:


Ok so I kind of hated how this shirt originally turned out. I had added a back seam to take care of some scarf issues and also hated my zigzagged hems. Plus the scarf neckline is really a plunging one when sitting down. So I hand stitched the scarf about 2 inches so it won't plunge anymore, removed the zigzagging and twin needle stitched. I also slightly shaped the shirt and cut off the excess. Now I'm really pleased with it, and also think it looks better in real life than in the pix.

Shirt 4: last week's Vogue cowl neck:

Before:


Not really "after", more like "in progress":



As debbie pointed out the shirt is just too big for me. I wore it to work on Monday and felt like I was swimming in it. The neckline is big and the cowl is heavy, so the cowl pulls the shirt down in front, not very attractive for working. Look carefully at the "before" and you'll see the raglan sleeve seamline is in the WRONG place. It's far off from where it should be. I tried bringing in the raglan sleeve line some more but the real problem is the cowl and neckline. I'll rip out the cowl and recut the entire top half as size small. I think that will resolve the problem. I will also be sure to try the top on after sewing the raglan seamline but before sewing the cowl back in. Then I can see if the raglan seamline is in the right place and give me a chance to fix it before sewing the cowl back in.

And as for the bow shirt, I ordered the fabric from joann.com last weekend but it hasn't shipped yet.

Good night!!